![]() After all, French gun-control laws did not stop the Bataclan theater massacre. Even those who support some new measures, myself included, must concede that the kinds of policies that would do the most to reduce firearm fatalities may have little or no effect on terrorist plots or determined mass shooters. If the American public suddenly acceded to restrictive gun-control laws, mass shootings like the one in San Bernardino would likely happen from time to time anyway. Arguably they demand even more credulity than prayer. Yet, like prayer, rote tweets urging us toward policy responses, whether they are aimed at controlling guns or discovering terror plots before they happen, demand a kind of blind faith and hope. Martin O’Malley named an enemy: the National Rifle Assn. Perceiving the events at San Bernardino first as an issue of firearms control, not terrorism, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders sent out messages about taking action to stop gun violence. Even if their judgment is terrible.Īn anti-prayer critic might respond: Politicians should instead publicly promise to work for policies that that would prevent future violence. Politicians may be praying this way, and sincerely, even if their judgment leads them to different conclusions later. Believers hope that prayer will strengthen them to respond to tragedy with actions tempered by good will, wisdom and compassion. Prayer doesn’t exhaust all of our duties in a human tragedy, and nobody claims that it does. ![]() They pray seeking understanding of God’s will in a world marred by sin and death. Mary Elizabeth Williams, in a scorching essay for Salon on these empty gestures, wrote that “it’s actually offensive for public figures who could take action to curtail gun violence to foist the burden of healing the broken lives that violence leaves behind on God.”īut the truth is that people pray for things that our laws and government cannot provide: eternal rest for the victims, consolation for the bereaved, resolve and strength for first responders. The suddenly popular accusation that prayer is an ugly, insincere and insufficient response to tragedy misconstrues why people pray.
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